The 56-year-old Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Maltagalpa refused to board the plane with the deportees and decided to stay in Nicaragua.
Álvarez has been “languishing in regime detention since August” and was “fallaciously charged with ‘undermining national integrity and the propagation of false news,’” Broglio said. The Nicaraguan bishop was sentenced to 26 years in prison, stripped of his citizenship, and ordered to pay what Broglio said was an “exorbitant” fine.
“His sentencing marks yet another escalated human rights violation in the ongoing ordeal the Catholic Church faces in Nicaragua,” Broglio said.
In the last five years, Nicaragua’s government under President Daniel Ortega has increasingly targeted the Catholic Church. Church leaders acted as mediators with foes of Ortega after massive 2018 protests, and Ortega has accused Catholic leaders of trying to overthrow him.
Last year the Ortega government targeted clergy, eliminated Church-affiliated organizations, and put restrictions on religious observances. His government has also taken action to repress Catholic radio and television stations. It has driven Catholic religious orders, including the Missionaries of Charity, from the country.
Broglio said the Nicaraguan regime and its allies have been “implementing a policy of severe aggression against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua.” This includes “calculated profanations of the Blessed Sacrament as a means of terrorizing the Nicaraguan faithful.”
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